The attack came without warning.
One moment, Ren and the others were standing among the rescued "hostages," their attention still divided between the strange bell and the dangers lurking deeper within the Forest of Death.
The next—
Cold steel flashed through the darkness.
Obito's pupils contracted sharply.
His Sharingan activated almost on instinct, two tomoe spinning into existence as he threw himself backward. Even with his enhanced perception, however, the kunai had already crossed the distance between them.
Shhk!
The blade sliced through the front of his shirt.
A thin red line appeared across his chest.
Obito landed several meters away, one hand already reaching for the ninja tools at his waist. His expression was somewhere between shock and outrage.
"Hey! What the hell is going on?!" he shouted. "Are these hostages insane?! Why are they attacking us?!"
"Idiot."
Ren's voice was cold and calm.
"They're part of the examiner squad."
At almost the exact same instant, another supposed hostage lunged toward him.
Ren moved.
His left hand snapped forward like a striking serpent and caught the attacker by the wrist before the kunai could reach him.
For an instant, everything seemed normal.
Then Ren's eyes narrowed.
Something was wrong.
He couldn't immediately explain what it was. The sensation was faint—almost nothing more than instinct—but after so many battles, Ren had learned not to ignore that feeling.
His fingers tightened.
Crack!
The attacker's wrist was violently dislocated.
Before the young man could even scream, Ren stepped forward and drove the edge of his hand into the side of his neck.
Thud.
The supposed hostage collapsed.
But Ren didn't look down.
Instead, he immediately retreated several steps.
His hands came together.
"Release!"
Chakra surged through his body.
For half a heartbeat, nothing happened.
Then—
The entire world trembled.
Ripples spread through the air as though someone had thrown a stone into the surface of a perfectly still lake.
The trees distorted.
The moonlight twisted.
Even the ground beneath Ren's feet seemed to blur.
And then the illusion shattered.
The two attackers vanished.
The unconscious young man at Ren's feet disappeared with them.
Several meters away, Obito was still engaged in an intense battle against… absolutely nothing.
"Take this!"
Obito ducked beneath an imaginary attack, spun around, and hurled a kunai through empty air.
"Damn it! Stop running!"
Ren stared at him for a moment.
"…."
Rin wasn't doing much better.
She stood nearby with her hands raised defensively, eyes fixed on an enemy only she could see. Unlike Obito, she hadn't started shouting at empty space yet, but it was clear that neither of them had escaped the genjutsu.
Ren slowly turned his attention forward.
Someone new stood there.
Or rather—
Someone who had been there from the beginning.
The frightened civilian appearance had disappeared.
Standing beneath the pale moonlight was a tall Konoha shinobi with crimson hair and a composed expression.
Yuhi Shinku.
The captain of the examiner squad.
Ren let out a quiet breath.
"As expected."
He hadn't been completely certain.
That was the troublesome thing about genjutsu.
If you knew you were trapped inside one, escaping was straightforward enough.
The real danger was realizing that what you were seeing wasn't reality in the first place.
But Ren had already known one important fact.
Yuhi Shinku was leading the examiner squad.
And if Yuhi Shinku was involved…
Trying to dispel a genjutsu was never going to be the wrong decision.
Judging from the scene before him, his suspicion had been correct.
Across from him, Yuhi Shinku studied Ren with obvious surprise.
His eyes sharpened slightly.
"When did you figure out who I was?"
Ren tilted his head.
"Probably around the time we encountered that giant lizard."
Yuhi Shinku's eyebrows rose.
"That early?"
There was genuine skepticism in his voice.
He had every reason to be confident.
Yuhi Shinku was one of Konoha's most accomplished genjutsu specialists outside the Uchiha Clan. His skill with illusion techniques was exceptional, and when paired with the Transformation Technique, his disguises were nearly flawless.
Against ordinary shinobi, fooling them was easy.
Even experienced Chunin would struggle to notice anything unusual.
Usually, only shinobi possessing exceptional ocular abilities—such as the Sharingan or Byakugan—had a realistic chance of seeing through him quickly.
And even among the Uchiha, someone would generally need at least a mature two-tomoe Sharingan and decent experience with genjutsu.
Yet Ren possessed no dojutsu whatsoever.
He was still officially a Genin.
And he had noticed?
Ren saw the disbelief on Shinku's face and smiled.
"Because you were too professional, Senior Shinku."
Yuhi Shinku frowned.
"Too professional?"
"Exactly."
Ren gestured toward the area around them.
"These hostages were obviously never ordinary civilians. They were Konoha shinobi pretending to be civilians. Most teams participating in this exam should be able to figure that out eventually."
Shinku remained silent.
Ren continued.
"Pretending to be a civilian sounds easy. It isn't."
"The simpler something appears, the easier it is for shinobi to neglect it."
His smile deepened slightly.
"It's the same with the Three Basic Techniques."
"The Clone Technique. Transformation Technique. Substitution Technique."
"Every academy student learns them, but once most shinobi graduate, they immediately start chasing flashier techniques. Stronger ninjutsu. Better taijutsu. Secret techniques. Forbidden techniques."
"Very few people continue seriously practicing the basics."
He paused.
"The same thing happens with techniques like the Great Fireball Jutsu, Wild Water Wave, or even basic medical ninjutsu. Once people gain access to something more powerful, they start believing the simpler things are beneath them."
Inside Ren's mind, two extremely familiar voices immediately protested.
[Clone Technique: Hah! Ren, you bastard! You're finally admitting how important we are, aren't you?!]
[Transformation Technique: I knew it! I knew Ren would never abandon us!]
Ren's eyelid twitched.
That accusation was…
Not entirely unfair.
After maximizing their affinity, he had admittedly reduced the number of dedicated training sessions he spent on the most basic techniques.
Unless some strange new variation appeared, he rarely needed to grind them anymore.
Still—
He used them constantly in real combat.
And when nothing else was happening, he occasionally chatted with them.
Compared to the overwhelming majority of shinobi who nearly forgot the Clone Technique existed after becoming Genin, Ren considered himself incredibly loyal.
Probably.
Yuhi Shinku stared at him.
"…And your point?"
Ren returned his attention to the conversation.
"My point is simple."
His expression became more serious.
"When someone is pretending to be a civilian, the person who acts most like a civilian is often the most suspicious."
Yuhi Shinku's gaze shifted.
Ren continued steadily.
"When the giant lizard appeared, I watched everyone."
"The others reacted."
"Very subtly—but they reacted."
"Muscles tightened. Breathing changed. Their centers of gravity shifted. Some unconsciously adjusted their footing. Others moved their hands slightly closer to where they normally carried weapons."
"These were tiny movements."
"But they were shinobi movements."
No matter how convincing their frightened expressions had been, the body possessed habits that were difficult to erase.
Years of combat training created instincts.
An ordinary civilian faced with a giant predatory lizard might freeze, scream, flee blindly, or collapse in terror.
A shinobi—even one pretending to be helpless—would subconsciously prepare to survive.
Only one person hadn't.
Ren looked directly at Yuhi Shinku.
"You."
"From beginning to end, you remained completely terrified."
"Your breathing, your posture, your eyes, your movements—everything matched an ordinary civilian perfectly."
"There wasn't even the slightest sign that you were prepared to defend yourself."
Ren smiled faintly.
"That was the problem."
Yuhi Shinku's eyes narrowed.
Ren raised one finger.
"A Genin probably couldn't control his instincts that perfectly."
A second finger.
"A Chunin might manage it, but doing so in front of a giant creature during an unpredictable battle would still be extremely difficult."
Then a third.
"But assigning a Jonin merely to pretend to be one of the hostages seemed excessive."
"Unless…"
Ren's voice lowered.
"That Jonin wasn't there just to play the hostage."
The forest suddenly felt quieter.
Yuhi Shinku's expression finally changed.
Only slightly.
But Ren noticed.
"That was when I started suspecting that the real examiner had been hiding among the people we rescued."
"And then the bell rang."
Ren glanced toward the direction from which the sound had come earlier.
"I was already watching you."
"You concealed your movements well."
"Very well, actually."
"But when you formed your seals, there was still a slight fluctuation in your chakra."
"That gave me the final piece."
Ren spread his hands.
"And once the pieces fit together, there weren't many possibilities left."
Yuhi Shinku stared at him in silence.
Of course—
Ren hadn't revealed everything.
There was one detail even more important than the rest.
He had noticed Yuhi Shinku's Transformation Technique much earlier.
That alone had made Shinku suspicious.
After all, Ren's mastery over Transformation was absurdly high.
For him, identifying tiny imperfections in another person's transformation was far easier than it should have been for someone his age.
And there had been another question.
Why transform at all?
If their only objective was pretending to be civilians, using their normal faces would have worked perfectly well.
Unless one of them had a face the examinees might recognize.
That possibility had moved Yuhi Shinku to the top of Ren's suspect list almost immediately.
For several seconds, neither of them spoke.
Then—
Clap.
Yuhi Shinku brought his hands together.
Clap. Clap.
Slow applause echoed beneath the trees.
His earlier surprise slowly transformed into appreciation.
"Excellent."
His gaze settled firmly on Ren.
"That was an impressive deduction."
"You noticed details most experienced shinobi would overlook, connected them correctly, and then acted without hesitation once the situation changed."
A small smile appeared on his face.
"Ren, your performance throughout this exam has exceeded my expectations."
"The combat instincts you demonstrated."
"Your adaptability."
"Observation."
"Analysis."
"Logical reasoning."
Yuhi Shinku shook his head.
"All of them are already well beyond what we normally require from someone seeking promotion to Chunin."
He paused.
"At this point, calling this an exam almost feels inappropriate."
Ren raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?"
"For you…"
Shinku's smile grew.
"This exam is beginning to look more like a talent exhibition."
Ren nodded calmly.
"Thank you for the compliment."
There was no false modesty.
That alone made Yuhi Shinku's eyebrow twitch.
Then the older shinobi smiled again.
"However…"
His tone changed.
The atmosphere changed with it.
A faint pressure spread through the clearing.
Ren's expression became serious.
Yuhi Shinku slowly reached toward the weapon at his side.
"As one of your examiners, I believe there's still one thing you need to experience."
His fingers closed around the hilt of a long blade.
"You've fought Chunin."
"You've fought dangerous opponents."
"And I'm sure you've already started developing confidence in your own strength."
The blade slid free.
Shing.
Moonlight reflected along its edge.
"But confidence can become arrogance very quickly."
His gaze sharpened.
"So consider this the final lesson prepared for those of you who are about to step onto a larger stage."
Ren's eyes lit up.
Instead of becoming nervous, excitement slowly spread across his face.
His right hand reached behind his shoulder.
His fingers wrapped around the hilt of the short blade strapped across his back.
He pulled it free.
Steel whispered against the sheath.
The moment the blade appeared, Ren's entire presence changed.
The relaxed smile disappeared.
His posture lowered.
His weight shifted onto the balls of his feet.
Battle intent surged through him.
Yuhi Shinku noticed it immediately.
This kid…
He really wanted to fight.
Not survive.
Not escape.
Fight.
Ren raised the short blade.
"Then please enlighten me, Senior Shinku."
His lips curled upward.
"My blade has been getting impatient."
Yuhi Shinku almost smiled.
Almost.
Then, completely against his will, another image flashed through his mind.
A dinner table.
His daughter sitting beside Ren.
Kurenai quietly picking food from one plate—
And placing it into Ren's bowl.
Yuhi Shinku's eye twitched.
For some inexplicable reason, the appreciation he had felt toward the talented young shinobi in front of him suddenly became considerably weaker.
The grip around his sword tightened.
"Hmph."
Ren blinked.
Why did the killing intent suddenly become stronger?
Yuhi Shinku lowered his stance.
"Young man…"
His chakra erupted.
Leaves scattered outward.
Dust lifted from the ground.
"Don't get too arrogant!"
Ren's grin widened.
"Then make me regret it."
Yuhi Shinku disappeared.
No—
He moved so quickly that it looked like he had vanished.
BOOM!
The earth beneath his previous position cracked.
His body shot across the clearing like an arrow released from a fully drawn bow.
Ren's pupils contracted.
Fast.
Much faster than the Chunin they had encountered during the exam.
In less than a heartbeat, Yuhi Shinku was already in front of him.
His sword moved.
A silver arc flashed through the darkness.
The blade screamed as it tore through the air, aimed directly at Ren's face.
There was no hesitation.
No testing strike.
No gentle warning from a senior to a junior.
This was the attack of a Jonin.
A real one.
Ren raised his short blade.
The killing edge descended.
And in that instant, he recognized the swordsmanship.
Konoha-Style Kenjutsu.
The first clash was about to begin.
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